"So which one is he at Hogwarts? The debauchable schoolboy, or the one with the pretty eyes- or someone else?" Now that he'd met the Master, keeping an eye out for this Doctor seemed a good idea. Knowing the individuals involved in the reality-dramas of Hogwarts made the soap opera all the more interesting. As the Master had suggested that this Doctor wouldn't approve of him, meeting him was practically a necessity. Vladimir relished disapproval, especially the disapproval of the mainstream, and back in the Imperium he'd always found a great deal of pleasure in flaunting his debauchery and non-conformity. At Hogwarts, people in general seemed somewhat more open minded, so, a quality source of actual disapproval sounded like a delightful thing to have around. "I think I'd like to meet this Doctor. I've never cared much about approval."
"Short on metals?" A snort of laughter. "Hardly. I could make a pretty good dent in the supply if I chose to cease production on Giedi Prime, but that would be both stupid and temporary. CHOAM would just send some more cooperative House to strip some other planet, and, that's hardly a way to get a directorship, is it? We've got plenty of machines. But they don't run themselves. It's the 'thinking' component that's key- someone's got to operate the damn things. That's where the slaves come in. Everything gets done just fine. Show me how to use that device, and I'll show you." Vladimir took another drink of his wine as the music shifted once again, drifting into a somewhat darker, bass-heavy piece by Moby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURL-Sc0s4w). This called for another line, and the Baron paused to indulge in this before explaining, "We had robots, some ten thousand years before my day. They nearly destroyed humanity during the Butlerian Jihad. "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." That was the result. Those words stuck- culture and technology grew in a different direction from that point. We made men into thinking machines, instead."
no subject
"Short on metals?" A snort of laughter. "Hardly. I could make a pretty good dent in the supply if I chose to cease production on Giedi Prime, but that would be both stupid and temporary. CHOAM would just send some more cooperative House to strip some other planet, and, that's hardly a way to get a directorship, is it? We've got plenty of machines. But they don't run themselves. It's the 'thinking' component that's key- someone's got to operate the damn things. That's where the slaves come in. Everything gets done just fine. Show me how to use that device, and I'll show you." Vladimir took another drink of his wine as the music shifted once again, drifting into a somewhat darker, bass-heavy piece by Moby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURL-Sc0s4w). This called for another line, and the Baron paused to indulge in this before explaining, "We had robots, some ten thousand years before my day. They nearly destroyed humanity during the Butlerian Jihad. "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." That was the result. Those words stuck- culture and technology grew in a different direction from that point. We made men into thinking machines, instead."